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THE WORD

Page 19

HIV services in peril, Caracole steps up


O
ne of the great
spent our days outside
joys of being
THE GOOSE IS LOOSE of the office in the loa volunteer
cal community testing
is that Ive met folks
individuals who were
who have expertise at a
at high risk for HIV
wealth of topics.
infection and, often,
As a community
were financially unable
writer, I have many
to afford and HIV test
interests. When I see
elsewhere.
issues that need to be
Our services freMichael
given voice, it is nice
quently served the
Chanak
to have friends who
homeless, sex workers,
can give me a firsthand
injection drug users
perspective. One such
and many other groups
person is Matt Parker. His story and
of people whose personal health situaperspective follows!
tions are habitually overlooked. It was
Recently, the Ohio State Legislature
my job to meet these individuals with
adopted House Bill 294 by a vote of 62compassion and genuine concern so that
30. Many of you may not be aware that
I could provide them with the dignity
this legislation officially stripped away
of receiving a basic health test. When a
$1.3 million in funding away from Ohio
client tested HIV+, it was my mission
Planned Parenthood health education
to comfort and guide them through the
programs. This law stipulates that any
process of finding a doctor so they could
abortion provider can no longer receive
acquire the proper medication.
state funds and, furthermore, no agency
My coworkers and I would also
that receives state funding can even
provide HIV+ individuals counseling on
partner with an abortion provider for any how to handle their daily health needs
reason.
and how to safely (and successfully!) disI write about this new law for two
close their status to partners. This is the
reasons; the first being that I was an
job I performed on a daily basis as part
employee of Planned Parenthood of
of the Planned Parenthood team. I was
Southwest Ohio and this bill directly
good at my job and I sincerely desired to
affected me and my job security. The
affect change in the local community.
second reason is because I have genuine
With the passage of Ohio House Bill
concern regarding the health-education
294, all of my daily work was suddenly
programs impacted by this defunding
in jeopardy. Without the grant-related
and the future of health/sexuality educafunding the HIV Project received from
tion in the state of Ohio.
the local county health department and
By removing these funds from Planned from the Ohio Department of Health, it
Parenthood, programs such as PREP
would no longer be able to function. My
(Personal Responsibility Education
coworkers and I began to scramble to unProgram) and VAWA (Violence against
cover a way to prevent the unthinkable.
Women Act) have no defined future in
How could we preserve this program so
Ohio. In regard to me, this law cut fundthat the community wouldnt lose these
ing for my specific program, The HIV
valuable services?
Prevention Project. Over the last four
Fortunately, this story has a silver linyears I had been employed by Planned
ing. The HIV Prevention Project was able
Parenthood as an HIV Health Education to find an agency willing to take on the
specialist, with my program providing
arduous task of sustaining our services.
education, HIV testing and counseling
Caracole Inc. worked with our program
to a large variety of community partners
to create a grant proposal and ultimately
and citizens in the greater Cincinnati
was able to acquire county funding for
area.
HIV prevention. As such, the agency
At the time, the HIV Prevention
hired our team to begin prevention
program provided HIV testing and
services as of April 1, 2016. While the
services to anyone in need, completely
process of sorting out the mess created
free of charge. My coworkers and I often
by House Bill 294 was a difficult one, I

Prictured, from left, Adam Reilly, Prevention Manager,


and Health Educators Tavon Hall and Matt Parker.

am very happy to tell the readers of this


article that our services remain intact and
uninterrupted.
Caracole Inc. is Southwest Ohios only
independent case management agency
for individuals and families who are
living with or are impacted by HIV. The
agency serves clients in eight counties
in the region. Caracole was founded in
1987 with the mission of providing care
to HIV+ individuals in the last days of
their life when many other options for
care didnt exist. Since then, the agency
has grown by leaps and bounds, now
providing case management and housing assistance to more than 1,500 clients.
It is important to note that Caracole is
no stranger to adapting how the agency
functions, having taken over the caseload from the now defunct agency, Stop
AIDS, in 2011.

June 2016

It is also important to note that


Caracole has managed to become a
fully encompassing HIV service agency,
providing service at all points in the
spectrum of care. HIV prevention, case
management, housing, and linkage to care
or all crucial services that are provided to
HIV+ individuals on a daily basis. It is
my sincere hope that by becoming part of
Caracole, the HIV Prevention Project will
grow vastly and continually expanding our
outreach, testing and prevention efforts.
Anyone in Southwest Ohio interested
in HIV case management services, or to
schedule your FREE rapid HIV test, can
contact Caracole at 513-761-1480. O
Michael Goose Chanak is a longtime
active member of the Cincinnati LGTB
community. Contact him at goose@maryx
goose.org or www.maryxgoose.org.

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